Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "o menino" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

Q: How do you pronounce o menino in Portuguese (Brazil)?

o menino is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u meˈni.nu/. It means “boy.” oo meh-NEE-noo. Three syllables in the noun, stress in the middle, and no nasal vowels at all.

oo meh-NEE-noo. Three syllables in the noun, stress in the middle, and no nasal vowels at all.

o menino /u meˈni.nu/

Front of the second-to-last syllable, exactly as the -o default predicts, unmarked. The word is an unusually clean demonstration of the syllable-structure rule: every one of its nasal consonants opens a syllable rather than closing one, so nothing gets nasalized. Move any of them one position later and the vowels would hum.

Listen: o menino

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Sound it out

o The masculine article raised to "oo," unstressed and quick, leaning onto the noun.

me A plain m opening a syllable, so nothing nasalizes, and a closed e. Unstressed but clearly pronounced — Portuguese doesn't crush it into a schwa.

ni An n opening its own syllable, again nasalizing nothing, followed by the stressed high "ee." This is the loud centre of the word.

no A third nasal consonant opening a third syllable, then "oo." Three m's and n's in this word and not a single nasal vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

O menino gosta de futebol.

The boy likes soccer.

Listen: O menino gosta de futebol.

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"O menino gosta de futebol" uses "gostar de," so the "de" is a quick "djee." "Futebol" ends in a vocalized l, giving foo-tchee-BOW — and note its middle te is palatalized to "tchee," so the word contains two of the most Brazilian features in four syllables.

Where English speakers slip

Nasalizing the vowels is the predictable error for anyone who has been drilling "não" and "tem." Every vowel here is oral. English speakers also leave the final o unraised. And the diminutive is worth knowing — "menininho" is common and adds an nh, which learners sometimes flatten into an ordinary n.